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‘Heather and Red Deer on Exmoor’.
This oil painting commission was very personal. To help someone to remember his Granny and family farm on Exmoor. Paul asked for there to be lots of heather, windswept trees and possibly a Red Deer stag. However, he didn’t want the stag to be too prominent in the painting.
Drawing
The farm had been inland and his memories were of fields and moorland.
Transferring onto the Canvas
Lastly, putting down the Paint
The canvas had three coats of Gesso before starting. I then put down a ‘thin’ coat of oil paint over everything. Particularly a dark violet colour in the foreground where the heather was going. Then it was just a question of working my way down the painting, starting with the sky, and adding the detail. I often work this way, putting in as much of the painting ‘All Prima’ (wet on wet), as I can. This way I don’t have to worry about multiple layers of ‘fat on lean’ oil paint. Everything dries in one go, with just a little tweaking when a layer has dried. However, you do need a clear picture in your head of how the picture will look before hand. By the way, the oil paints I used on this painting were Michael Harding Oil Paints and Winsor & Newton, Artists’ Oil Paints, with Round Brushes.
I hope that Paul can sit back, enjoy the painting and remember his Gran.
Note from Paul, “Thank you so much Nick – I love it – perfect and just what I wanted – looking forward to getting it up on the wall.”
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